Combine the chicken, bell peppers, onions, spices, garlic and lime juice in a large ziplock bag and mix well. Melt butter in a pan and pour in the contents of the ziplock bag. Cook until the chicken is done and the peppers are soft. Put lettuce on a plate and pour chicken over top. Top with diced tomatoes, avocados, salsa, etc.! Add a little Frank’s Red Hot. Enjoy!

Blend the almonds and cashews in a blender until finely chopped, but don’t over do it! You don’t want it really chunky though. Put the blended nuts into a bowl, and add the coconut and cocoa powder. Stir well. Melt the coconut oil and almond butter – you can use the microwave or stove – I’m a microwave girl. Pour into the dry ingredients and use a spoon to mix everything. Taste and add honey to your likeness. I added about a TBSP. Mix in well. If it’s too wet, add almond flour. If it’s too dry, add more coconut oil. I used a container with a top (9×11), and lined with with parchment paper. Pour the mixture in and press it down. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes before eating. Cut into squares and enjoy! You can eat it over the next few days!

Hopefully you have some Chicken and Dumplings leftover for lunch today. It was hard to resist eating it all! Here’s a head start on lunch…

Avo-stuffed Burger

1 lb. grass fed ground beef

2 avocados

1 C sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil), chopped

Juice 1/2 lemon

1 TBSP black pepper

2 tsp sea salt

Put your ground beef in a large bowl and add black pepper and 1 tsp of sea salt. Mix well with your hands, form THIN patties all the same size (they need to be thin because you use two of them to make one burger). In another bowl mash the avocados and combine with sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice, and the remaining teaspoon of sea salt. In half the burger patties, create a little pocket in the middle and place your avocado mixture in it, but leave enough room around the edge to seal it. Take the other half of the burger patties, and place them on top, sealing the edges with your fingers. You can grill or cook on a stove top. Let the burgers sit for a few minutes before you eat them.

It’s been awhile since I posted anything but recipes. I just want to talk about emotional eating for a bit, and how Paleo helped me.

I used to be an emotional eater, but I no longer am. The reason many people turn to food for comfort, is because it actually excites the “happiness” triggers in your brain. Unfortunately after you eat, you can experience a pretty rough decline of that happiness shortly thereafter. A lot of the junk food today, readily available to most, doesn’t help. It actually makes things worse. When eating Paleo, what I have experienced, is that my body is much more balanced. For example…my go-to emotional eating meal was a bagel or two, yes two. Anyone knows how you feel after eating a bagel….generally, you wake up for a bit, then you start to feel tired. Well, when you emotionally eat, that feeling of being tired is accompanied with feeling down and sad.

Take it from me, it’s a very, very hard habit to break. You can try to find another vice to help you not eat emotionally, but food is what people tend to go to. So, Entemann’s donuts are delicious…if I was feeling emotional, I could EASILY eat an entire box with a glass of milk. Nothing else mattered at the time. I’d finish the box, wait for the downward spiral of my mood, and go find some Ellio’s pizza to eat. It was a roller coaster; scariest of them all. I thought I would be stuck living like that forever. I started seeing the pounds add up, and I started seeing how my skin was affected, and my mood swings, and the fact that I never wanted to go anywhere. Emotional eating is a demon, but my God send was going Paleo.

I’m not saying you need to go Paleo to stop emotional eating, but you do need to find something that will help you break the habit. There are ways! The reason Paleo worked for me was my introduction to new foods and new ways of eating. It kept my attention diverted. I started treating my body better by what I was eating, and in return, my body was treating me better. My emotions stabilized, I broke a few bad habits, and the food I ate was nutritionally more balanced; all together, those things went a long way. Whether it’s the diet, or just mind over matter, I’ve learned to deal with things much better now, than before I started Paleo almost 2 years ago. And now, it’s not so much the eating that I love, but the cooking. I really enjoy cooking and maybe it’s because it’s a fun distraction, who knows.

Thanks to Paleo, I broke the habit of emotional eating and drinking soda!

Emotional eating is a crazy thing to understand, but it’s very real. How have you overcome your emotional eating?

“Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome.”

So I didn’t make my minneola chicken tonight, I made chicken and dumplings instead! I never made it before, but I’d been thinking about it for a long while. It came out pretty good! If you make it, let me know what you think!

In a pot, add broth, chicken, onions, celery, water, poultry seasoning, parsley and salt. Cover and cook for 40 minutes over medium heat. If you decided to keep the chicken breast whole, then turn down the stove to low and remove the chicken from the broth and shred with forks. If you cut it into chunks, then just leave it in there. In a small bowl, combine the coconut milk and 2 TBSP of tapioca flour and stir well. Add this to the soup and stir. To make the dumplings, grind the slivered almonds into a fine flour in your blender or food processor, then add the tapioca flour and salt; pulse for 30 seconds. Add in ⅓ cup of the soup broth and mix. It will turn into a soft dough. Roll the dough into 1″ balls (next time I think I’m going to make them a little bigger). Drop them into the broth and cook for 15 minutes over medium low.

Tomorrow for breakfast, I still have some of the muesli and kefir leftover, so I’m going to eat that before it goes bad.

“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” – Albert Einstein

If you want to get a jump start on dinner prep…here you go! If you never heard of a minneola, it’s like a mix of a tangerine and grapefruit. Don’t knock it ’til you try it. If you aren’t feeling adventurous, you can just use an orange instead!

Honey Minneola Chicken

1 lb. chicken breast, cubed into bite sized pieces

2 TBSP fresh ginger, grated

2 TBSP fresh garlic, minced

2 TBSP coconut aminos

2 TBSP honey

juice from 1 minneola (got mine from Trader Joe’s)

1 tsp fish sauce

green onions, chopped

coconut oil

Cook chicken in coconut oil over high heat until it starts to brown. Add ginger and garlic, sauté about 1 minute. Lower heat and add coconut aminos, honey, minneola juice and fish sauce. Stir everything together and simmer for 8-10 minutes until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked. Top with green onions.

Okay, maybe I don’t know that for sure, but the name of the burger is based on the size! Here’s your lunch recipe for today, yes, it’s burgers again…but I’m trying to channel the warm BBQing weather! These are simple, but delicious. Make a side of steamed broccoli, and you’re set!

King Kong Burgers

1 lb. grass fed ground beef

1 shallot

2 cloves garlic

1 egg

Salt and pepper

Coconut aminos

Mince the shallot and garlic, then use a food processor or blender to mince them more. Mix that together with the ground beef, egg, salt, and pepper. Melt butter in a pan, split the beef into 2 patties (yes, 1/2 lb. burgers), and cook! While they are cooking, pour in 2 Tbsp of coconut aminos and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Turn up the heat to high to reduce the sauce. You can remove the burgers and throw some steamed broccoli into the sauce, and toss.

In a small pan, mix coconut milk, coconut flour and shredded coconut. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir halfway through, and add more coconut flour if needed. You can add to a consistency that you like. Mash the banana, and then put into pan and mix well. You can add anything to top it when you eat it, such as fresh fruit or the muesli you made yesterday!

Combine all ingredients except sesame oil in a large bowl, and mix well with your hands. Heat toasted sesame oil in a frying pan. Form 4 patties with the meat and fry each patty until it’s cooked through. Plate it with a little bit of Frank’s Red Hot if you so please.

For dinner I went out of my comfort zone and decided to get cod. I’m not really a seafood eater, but I figured why not. Well, I tried it and it was good, but I probably won’t make it again for myself, personally. haha

Season the cod with salt, pepper and the ground ginger; set aside. Steam the zucchini and peppers for about 3 minutes. Rinse with cold water, drain and pat dry, then place in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the grated ginger, coconut amino, lemon juice, honey and sesame oil. Pour over the zucchini and peppers; mix well. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve. Put the EVOO in a pan and fry the cod. Serve with a side of zucchini salad.

Have you been wondering, where the heck have I been…well, I’ve been working tirelessly to prepare the next 30 day plan. I worked so hard it ended up being 31 days! I’m still ironing out some kinks, but the next 30 is coming! Still haven’t written down my workouts, but I will soon!

So tonight, dinner…like the title says, Rock and Roll Lobster Bisque. I’ve told you before, I LOVE MAKING HOMEMADE SOUP! It’s so much better than canned — no contest.

4 garlic cloves, peeled and whole (feel free to add more if you love garlic)

6 oz. can of tomato paste

salt and pepper

In a medium sized pot, melt 2TBSP butter and add the leeks, carrots, and celery. Heat until leeks become tender. Then add the broth, water, cauliflower, Italian seasoning, bay leaf, garlic cloves, and S&P — bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leaf, then use an immersion blender to blend all ingredients in the pot. Take about 3/4 of the Trader Joe’s Langostino Tails (after you have rinsed them) and add them to the pot with the tomato paste. Stir occasionally until well combined. Take the rest of the TJ’s Tails and put them in a small pan with the remaining butter. Heat them and make sure they get covered in the butter! Pour the bisque into bowls and top with a few buttered tails. ENJOY!!

…and then for tomorrow’s breakfast…

Delicious Muesli

1 C. roasted almonds

2 C. toasted coconut flakes

1/2 C. pumpkin seeds

1/2 C. sunflower seeds

3/4 C. cashews

2 tsp cinnamon

1 C. cranberries

Kefir

In a blender, use the pulse option to roughly chop the almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Transfer to large bowl and mix in toasted coconut, cinnamon, cranberries, and combine! Serve with kefir!

“The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them.”

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Dee

I’m a 34 year old kid at heart. I reached a low point in my life where I felt like I needed to take control before I didn’t have the choice, and that’s when I decided that I needed to change my lifestyle. It’s going to be my life long goal to always achieve optimum health…I am still young after all. Here I am, over one year into my Paleo journey, and I never felt better.